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Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Hi all! With my mom's help, I just got this scrappy quilt totally finished -- woohoo! This sucker is mostly made from scraps from the Tinsel Swoon quilt I blogged about a few posts back.

Full disclosure—I did add quite a lot of additional fabric for more HSTs and setting triangles to get it this big. But once I had used up all my Swoon triangle scraps, I liked it enough to keep going and make it bigger - - and bigger it is! The HSTs finish 2" square, and this quilt covers the top of a queen size bed. So, if you do the math, that comes out to approximately eleventy-billion HSTs to make this quilt.

The beautiful quilting (done by Mom!) is an all-over small loop, and is quilted with a cream-colored Glide thread. Glide has a bit of a sheen to it, and I loved how it shimmered on this holiday quilt. With Christmas, I don't think you can have too much shiny, gold stuff - - - which is good, cuz there's a ton of it in this quilt!

There was absolutely no rhyme or reason to how this quilt went together. I made HSTs until I used up all my fabric, and then sewed them into 16-patches until I couldn't make anymore. I laid out many different possible layouts before deciding on this one. It was just sheer luck that I had the blocks to do this without any planning. All said and done, I only had one 16-patch left over! Pretty good for a scrappy project, huh?

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Rather than traditionally piece this bad boy, as the instructions call for, I used a gridded leave-in fusible interfacing. This helped things stay nice and straight, and was much less daunting than I think piecing all of those squares would be. It also means I cut 2" squares (the pattern calls for 2.5" squares), so my Ron is a little smaller than the original quilt. Which I was totally fine with since I really wanted it for a wall hanging instead of a bed quilt.

I made the background purple for some fun contrast, and I threw in some scattered prints in all the color types (except the white areas).

The mustache quilting (because what could be more appropriate? Other than maybe eggs and bacon) was done by the best long armer in the world, my Mom.

It feels so good to get some of these projects finished and shared! :-)

Sunday, September 4, 2016

It's been *ahem* a little while since I've blogged, but I haven't stopped quilting! Here's a recent finish of mine. This is the super-popular "Swoon" pattern by Camille Roskelley using the following fabrics:

Sunday, February 1, 2015

I'm really into making mini quilts these days. Maybe it's because they're actually "finishable" in a short amount of time, or that I like trying new techniques and playing with my scrap pile. Either way, I've been designing minis for each issue of The WhipperCrafter digital mini magazine.

This month, my little "X Marks the Spot" string pieced mini quilt made the cover! Here's a little sneak peak of the rest of the magazine.

I told you awhile ago that I started a new business, Rebel Craft Media, with two of my (amazing and talented) crafty friends. One prong of that business is a bi-monthly digital mini magazine.

From The WhipperCrafter "Green & Gold"Project by Aimee Davis

Each issue is based on a theme that loosely ties all the projects together. We just released this month's issue, themed "Green & Gold."

From The WhipperCrafter "Green & Gold"Project by Courtney Kyle

Each new issue is offered on a "pay what you will" price during its release month—even if that's $0. So check it out - - no risk!

Friday, November 28, 2014

I'm so excited to finally share this little gift I made for my sweet friend, Claudia's, birthday! I, of course, had to wait until the birthday girl received her package, but now that she's officially another year old, I can share.

The pattern for the sweet little doll, Panda Buns (cuz her little hair buns are panda faces!!!) is from the book Wee Wonderfuls by Hillary Lang—one of my favorite books.

I decided the doll needed a quilt to keep her comfy on her way to her new home in North Carolina, so I made a coordinating mini plus quilt to send with her.

This quilt is made with 2.5" squares, and finishes at 16" x 18".

Some seriously skinny matchstick quilting finished it up. I've never done such narrow quilting, but I love how it looks. Not sure how soon I'll be doing it again, though - - it took a bit of time...

I really loved how this all turned out, and I had a total blast making this sweet doll! I haven't done much sewing like this, so it was a bit out of my comfort zone, but I had so much fun!! I think there are more dolls to be made in my future.

**Thanks to birthday girl, Claudia ,for allowing me to use some of her photos for this post!!!

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Long time, no talk! But the delay's been worth it - - I have exciting news!!!

I've been busy with two of my friends (Shannon Miller and Courtney Kyle) forming a new crafty biz, Rebel Craft Media. Shannon, Courtney and I have joined forces to develop and publish multi-craft media with a modern focus, including patterns, a bi-monthly mini-magazine (The WhipperCrafter) and a really swell blog full of tutorials and useful content. You'll see quilting, sewing, paper craft—the list goes on. So, check it out (and if you're so inclined, please tell your pals!).

Plus, I have just released a new quilt pattern over at Rebel Craft Media called the Polka Baby Polka Quilt. It's a fun and fast baby quilt that is easily customizable with your current favorite fabrics.

To celebrate the release, we're giving away one copy of the pattern at the end of this week (cut off to enter is Thursday, Nov. 13 at 11:59pm, EST). Go to the Rebel Craft blog to enter.

Thanks for all of your support in this new endeavor! And I'm not giving up this blog - - my posts just might be a little less frequent than they used to be, but I'm still here!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Is there anything better than a swap? (Nope!) I signed up to participate in a little swap following the Sew South Retreat. I decided to make a super modern mini quilt with neon pink, lemon yellow and linen for my partner. It's a little wrinkly in the photos, but I really love how this turned out.

Construction was fairly straight forward once I figured out what I was going for. I basically cut in the colorful strips into the background—the pink first, then the yellow.

I quilted parallel to the yellow strips at varying widths.

I shouldn't even show you the back because holy COW, did that sucker pucker up, but whatever—I still like it, even if it's not perfect! I had this cool piece of gradated yellow fabric in my stash, and it went perfectly with the pieced-in yellow strips. It was a little thin, and I basted with pins instead of spray, both of which didn't help with the pucker situation. But I figure it's a mini quilt, destined for a wall, so it's fine. The pink corners on top are for hanging, and the one in the bottom right corner is a little label.

My swap partner, the lovely and talented Asha, sent me this amazing embroidery hoop bag. We all got a little addicted to embroidery during Sew South, thanks to Alison Glass, so Asha figured this was a safe bet - - - and boy was she right!

One of my (several) current cross-stitch projects is living in this bag, so I'm using my awesome swap gift every single day!

I think my favorite part are the little words of inspiration in the bottom corner . . . .

I'm using an Echino print for the main panels, Pennants Waving by Rashida Coleman Hale for the lining and Domino Dot in Starfruit by Violet Craft for the piping. I'm using store-bought strapping for the straps. Here's my progress so far!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

The insanely talented gals at The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery have designed a year-long mystery sampler, all themed around "Once Upon A Time." We are now 5 months in, and I figured it was time to show y'all what I've been working on!

On my scroll frame.

On the first of each month, the Pumpkins release that month's stitch chart. By the end of the year, the sampler will be done and ready for framing! I LOVE fairy tales, so this was a "must-do" for me!

Snow White with laundry supplies, magic mirror and poisoned apple

I'm stitching on a hand-dyed crystal linen (it has sparkles in it!) from Picture This Plus. It looks a little gray in the pictures, but it's really more blue than gray.

The Frog Princess, her (pre-transformation) prince, and valentine's sweet treats.

The 3 Little Pigs, a huffing & puffing wolf, and the brick house.

Goldilocks, the 3 bears, bed, chairs and porridge.

Jack and the beanstalk, his cottage, cow, magic bean, and pot of gold.

I'm actually all caught up so far! I can't wait to see what June brings! You can still buy the pattern here and join in the fun if you're interested in sewing along.

This scrappy improv pillow class was taught by Kati (From The Blue Chair), and it was so fun to see how different everyone's projects turned out!

Kati told us to bring a bag of scraps to use to make our pillow, and I pulled (mostly) greens, blues and purples. That little piece of pink floral snuck in somehow, and I had to use it - - it's one of my favorite scraps! That piece of text print in the middle was rescued from the trash can at Sew South! Total dumpster diving score!

I've always sewn my pillows right sides together and then turned out to finish, but I decided to bind this one. I'd been seeing a lot of bound pillows online and really loved the look, so I decided to give it a shot. I love how the binding looks on this - - a very clean finish. The back is a simple envelope style. I used Essex yarn dyed black, with a piece of my favorite Tula Pink Accacia raccoons thrown in, too.